Dyslexia Help

Research Based Interventions For Dyslexic Children

  We provide dyslexia help by working on the underlying causes

  Home based service with remote coaching, only 30 minutes a day

  Significant reading gains in 3-6 months, guaranteed

A lot has changed in our understanding of dyslexia over the past decade or so. It is still common for many adults to describe themselves as dyslexic, and a lot is made of famous "dyslexics" like Kinkos founder, Paul Orfalea take great pride in their ability to overcome dyslexia and go onto great things.

That was then. This is now. Dyslexia is no longer a life sentence.

It is now widely known that the brain is plastic -- it can change with the right mental exercise. Dr. Norman Doidge calls brain plasticity the most meaningful scientific discovery of the last fifty years, because it effectively ends the learning-is-fixed era. Help for dyslexia, by tapping into this neuroplasticity, is now a reality -- dyslexia can in many cases now be treated.

Since the advent of the functional MRI, a video MRI of brain activity, scientists have been able to identify under-developed processing and cognitive function in struggling readers. Even more compelling, scientists can now confirm (or not!) the efficacy of dyslexia programs. Programs that impact cognitive function work, ones that do not change the fMRI do not.

Our dyslexia software, Fast ForWord, as shown in this pre and post fMRI image, takes advantage of brain plasticity to improve processing, focus, memory and sequencing, improvements that translate into easier, less exhausting reading, and better reading comprehension is just a few months. It has the intensity required to create new neural pathways, using adaptive exercises that build speed and complexity in tiny, incremental steps.

Dyslexia Treatment

Children with dyslexia have "muddy" phonological word memories that are not accurate enough to pull apart words for reading. And so the dyslexic student develops memorization and other compensatory reading techniques that are at best inefficient and exhausting, and at worst ineffective.

While most dyslexia help -- software programs and tutoring interventions --- tends to focus on added instruction, Fast ForWord tackles the root causes. It is a series of programs that starts by strengthening cognitive skills at the bottom of the pyramid, and then works up:

1. Build secure cognitive foundation. Most children with dyslexia need help with phonological awareness, and other crucial cognitive skills. This is the starting point for all students.


2. Develop reading fluency. We then provide exercises to help spelling, vocabulary and language structure, common difficulties for our dyslexic children.


3. Reading comprehension. Our dyslexia software helps students to routinely think while reading and to read accurately -- often undoing prior bad habits such as word skipping. We also build vocabulary knowledge and grammar skills, required for reading comprehension.


4. Critical reading (middle school and up). The final step is reading with metacognition, the ability to think about what you are reading -- to self-adjust, make inferences and think critically.

The protocols and outcomes from our dyslexia help varies by age. Younger children tend to need more work on cognitive fundamentals, while older children need more help in the fluency and thinking skills required for reading comprehension.
Dyslexia treatment steps in detail

Fast & Effective
The quickest and most effective way to resolve an issue is to find the cause of the problem and then fix it. Most dyslexia interventions, however, come in the form of added instruction that does not address the problem, but rather provides added practice and strategies to work around it.

Our dyslexia program is different. Its success -- over 1 million helped in 40 countries -- comes from its effectiveness in tackling the causes of dyslexia, specifically the weak phonological awareness and working memory issues, aiming to resolve the dyslexia once and for all. It is based on the cognitive science of brain fitness, helping dyslexia at its source.
Using brain fitness to help dyslexia

Service Details

Service Description
For most students our program takes 3-6 months to help dyslexia, working with our software at home for 30 minutes a day. After each session, data is uploaded to a server where it is reviewed by a Gemm Learning professional who will be your point of contact throughout the program.

Individualized Programs
After testing, we develop a customized program protocol for each student. In addition the software itself is adaptive, and so each student receives the dyslexia help they need, working at their own pace. All of this is under the watchful eye of a program manager, who will adjust programming based on your child's progress and results.
Individualized dyslexia program plans

Gemm Learning is the leading at home provider of Fast ForWord for dyslexia in North America. We are affordable and service-oriented -- weekly reports, always available personal service, an online rewards site to motivate students, a proprietary parent resources site and much more. Learn more about our starting process and service here:
Dyslexia help at home

Research & Outcomes
Most Fast ForWord students experience 1-2 grades of improvement in reading in the first few months of service. It was ranked #1 in effectiveness amongst 24 reading programs in a recent, comprehensive Nevada DOE study.

The gains typically accelerate over the following years as improved cognitive abilities promote development of higher level skills. Because improved processing, memory and sequencing skills are used all day, these gains are enduring. Fast ForWord has been the subject of 700+ white papers, and trials covering 30,000 students, leading all dyslexia interventions.
More about the science behind Fast ForWord